Ransomware

One of the key takeaways from the inaugural meeting was the emergence of the Maze variant and a “new normal” of data exfiltration, often including stolen private customer information. Whereas previous generations of ransomware have been designed by threat actors to encrypt data and extort an organization for Bitcoin in exchange for the decryption key, […]

While you may not envision a scenario where your company would give in to paying ransom, it’s happening more often as organizations weigh the risks and benefits and find they have no choice.So say this is your reality. Dark Reading spoke to several cybersecurity experts to map out the step-by-step process of paying ransom and […]

When Imran Ahmad got the results of his law firm’s recently-commissioned corporate cyber incidents report he was surprised. Data showed just over half of Canadian organizations hit by ransomware last year paid cyber criminals to get decryption keys for restoring scrambled data. The surprise? Ahmad, a partner in the cyber and privacy practice of national […]

The cyber-extortionists who stole a trove of private data from entertainment law firm Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks now have a new target in their sights: President Donald Trump. In a blog post Thursday on the dark web viewed by Variety, the hacker collective that is holding thousands of the law firm’s documents hostage — […]

A growing number of public companies are now listing ransomware as a forward-looking risk factor in documents filed with the US Securities Exchange Commission. More than 1,000 documents mentioning ransomware as a risk factor have been filed over the last 12 months, and more than 700 in 2020 alone, with the number expected to easily […]

In Q1 2020, the average enterprise ransom payment increased to $111,605, up 33% from Q4 of 2019. Ransomware distributors increasingly targeted large enterprises and were successful in forcing ransom payments for the safe recovery of data. Large enterprise ransom payments are the minority by volume, but the size of the payments dramatically pulled up the […]

Speaking at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Christopher Krebs said his agency has stepped up efforts to proactively reach out to federal agencies, local governments, businesses and critical infrastructure managers about how to prepare and what to do if their data is encrypted and held ransom by criminals […]

The average ransomware payment more than doubled quarter-on-quarter in the final three months of 2019, while average downtime grew by several days, according to the latest figures from Coveware. The security vendor analyzed anonymized data from cases handled by its incident response team and partners to compile its Q4 Ransomware Marketplace report. It revealed that […]

The numbers that usually glow with exchange rates on Travelex boards in airports worldwide have gone dark, after the London-based currency exchange company was forced to go offline after it discovered a ransomware attack on Dec. 31. The disruption has also affected banks like Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC, which have been unable […]

Even when companies do allude to an attack in SEC filings, they typically resort to euphemisms rather than the very word that best describes what paralyzed their business and caused millions of dollars in losses. Just as wizards in the Harry Potter books speak of evil Lord Voldemort as “He Who Must Not Be Named,” […]

The officials of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) recently disclosed a Ryuk ransomware infection that took down the entire corporate IT network of a Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) regulated facility for more than 30 hours. The authorities stated the ransomware interrupted the camera and physical access control systems. It’s believed that a malicious email […]

Each year, millions of ransomware attacks paralyze computer systems of businesses, medical offices, government agencies and individuals. But they pose a particular dilemma for publicly traded companies, which are regulated by the SEC. Because attacks cost money, affect operations and expose cybersecurity vulnerabilities, they sometimes meet the definition used by the SEC of a “material” […]

While New Orleans officials remain tight-lipped about a cyber-attack that has hobbled city government since Friday, cyber-sleuths have homed in on the likely weapon: Ryuk, a menacing breed of “ransomware” used to lock up computer data until the target pays in Bitcoin for the key to release it. It was Ryuk that also hit state […]

Dallas-based Steven Anderson, vice president and product leader-cyber for insurance giant QBE North America, disagrees. “The reality is that the average demand is between $5,000 to $10,000,” he explained. “From an insurance carrier’s perspective, we want our insureds to have a solution that drives cost down, both for them and us. What we have seen […]

A Colorado company that specializes in providing IT services to dental offices suffered a ransomware attack that is disrupting operations for more than 100 dentistry practices, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. Multiple sources affected say their IT provider, Englewood, Colo. based Complete Technology Solutions (CTS), was hacked, allowing a potent strain of ransomware known as “Sodinokibi” or […]